It’s not the fact that Aldo defeated Mario Bigola in just 18 seconds by soccer-kick KO at the event, it’s that he did it at the age of 17, setting the tone for what would become a dominant career. Bigola retired following the bout and Aldo racked up an impressive 19-1 record, including an undefeated eight-fight tear through the WEC and successful defenses of his WEC and UFC belts.

Fedor Emelianenko’s manager Vadim Finkelchtein did an interview recently with Championat.com about the fighting future of his fighter whose career has hit a roadblock following his third straight loss two weeks ago to Dan Henderson. During the Q&A the Dana White’s favorite crazy Russian revealed that “The Last Emperor” will fight in the fall in Russia on the next M-1 Global show, possibly against fellow slumping former PRIDE standout Kevin Randleman, and that the event will likely be shown on Showtime.

Check out the full translation of what Vadim had to say after the jump.

(Aleks looks like he’s coming off of a particularly bad vodka bender in that photo)

Alex Emelianenko revealed over the weekend that he will face his next inexperienced opponent October 28 in Poland. The younger brother of Fedor Emelianenko confirmed the news with FightCard.plthat he will take on Tomasz Nowak (2-0 MMA, 27-4 kickboxing) at an event called Strefa Walk.

(If Aleks hadn’t gone and contracted Hep C, they could have sorted things out the old fashioned way. – vid courtesy of YouTube/Sakuraba78)

When Russians fight, they don’t beat around the bush.

In an interview he did over the weekend with Valetudo.ru in which he responded to claims from Aleksander Emelianenko that his brother’s loss to Dan Henderson over the weekend was the fault of Fedor’s trainers, Sergei Kharitonov called Lil’ Emel “a drunken, diseased drug addict who wasn’t raised properly and who was a mistake.”

“When I read his interview I laughed out loud. Although he is 30 years old and that’s certainly not the reason for laughter. Firstly, for guys like Aleks I am not ‘Serezha’ but rather ‘Sergei Valeryevich.’ Secondly, it’s about time for him to learn how to compress thoughts and, above all, to think before he speaks. He didn’t get a proper upbringing, I guess, but I don’t want to go deeper in it – he doesn’t deserve so much honor. He is a great trash-talker, but real fighters prove their strength in the ring. Aleks is a drinker, he is always brawling. Normal men like me or Fedor would never drink to alcoholic mania and fight in the street. But I often hear about Aleks getting into scraps like this in different corners of our country,” he says. “He rampages, harasses the waitresses and other girls, lies, cries on every corner that he is a champion of the world and the strongest man on Earth. I guess, this is some kind of a drug effect.”

Although the music selection was interesting to say the least, this video by Machinemen effectively runs the gamut of emotion from the thrill of victory to the agony of defeat and everything in between and brings you along for the ride. Although not as technically dazzling as some of MM’s other work, “Marchin’ On” is just as effective at eliciting a response.

If you’re unfamiliar with his work, check out some of Machinemen’s other masterpieces, including his timely Fedor career retrospective short, after the jump.

Marriage, children and happiness have robbed us of Fedor the Unstoppable. There, someone needed to say it. PicProps: CombatLifestyle

In the aftermath of Saturday night Strikeforce show, the hot topic is Fedor Emelianenko’s plan for the future. Will he retire? Should he retire? When does God make these decisions about retirement, and can we get an invite to the press conference?

We here at CagePotato are willing to go out on this limb and say, “Geez, you guys, it looks way higher from up here than we thought.” We’ll also say that Fedor is not done yet, because advancing that opinion allows us the chance to write in some suggestions for Fedor’s next opponent, with varying degrees of likelihood.

Inside, we’ve selected a handful of fighters with history of challenging Fedor in some way, that we would be willing to watch take on the Russian Cyborg of Total Destruction. NoteL to keep things fair, everyone on the list is older than Fedor, except the first guy. But Fedor’s already signed on to fight that guy once…

The Hendo Alarm Clock ($19.95): Guaranteed to wake you up from the deepest of sleeps. (Pic: Strikeforce.com)

Waking up this morning I had no idea of the war being waged in comment sections and MMA forums throughout the night. I should have expected it, really, given the inexplicable fervor with which fans both exalt and denounce Fedor Emelianenko. My two cents on the stoppage: Dan Henderson hit Fedor with several full-force, illegal punches to the back of the head. They were to the back of the head because Fedor’s face was buried in the canvas. They were full-force force because Fedor’s arms lied limply at his sides, gently tucked below his slightly-less-chubby-than-usual torso. We can argue about “The Last Emperor” recovering and rolling over as Henderson was waived off, but there’s no debating what led referee Herb Dean to step in. Watch it in slow motion, watch it a lot.

That’s all the time I’ll devote to the main event; both men’s legacies were built long before they entered Hoffman Estates, and what transpired last night did little to change that. The real story is what’s ahead for last night’s winners and losers, and where Strikeforce as an organization is headed.